CHARLESTON — The West Virginia Supreme Court of Appeals has affirmed a lower court judgment against three correctional officers who were accused of using excessive force on an inmate..
Justice Evan Jenkins authored the majority opinion. Justice John Hutchison concurred in part and dissented in part and authored a separate opinion.
Jenkins wrote in the opinion that the court did not find that the trial court had committed any errors during the proceeding of the case.
Christopher Shy filed a lawsuit against Peter Lunsford, Franklin Kelly and Lloyd Erwin alleging that the correctional officers beat and choked him while he was a prisoner at Western Regional Jail. When Shy attempted to seek medical care, he was denied treatment, the suit said.
Shy alleged that he suffered a bruised throat, back and rib pain, two black eyes, a swollen/sprained wrist, bruises on his head and a possible concussion.
The trial in the case lasted three days and at the close of evidence, the correctional officers moved for judgment as a matter of law, but the motion was denied. The jury found that the officers had violated Shy's 14th amendment rights by using excessive force.
The jury returned a verdict awarding Shy $4,500 in punitive damages, which was $1,500 from each correctional officer. The correctional officers sought to have the punitive damages set aside, but that motion was denied and they then appealed.
The appeals court found that the trial court had not erred and affirmed the judgment.
In his separate opinion, Hutchison wrote that while he agreed with the legal conclusion regarding federal law, he believes the conclusion does not address the real problem.
"In my opinion, because of the inconsistency in the verdict form, and because punitive damages cannot be awarded on a state law claim in the absence of an award of compensatory damages, this Court should have remanded the case to the circuit court for a new trial on the issue of damages only," Hutchison wrote.
Hutchison wrote that while he agreed with the conclusion regarding the federal law of damages, he did not agree with simply affirming the judgment. Hutchison wrote that he would have reversed the damages award and ordered a new trial on damages.
West Virginia Supreme Court of Appeals case number 18-0595
